04x03 - Block Party

[bunniefuu]

[Padma lakshmi]
previously on top chef...

We know each other
in san francisco,

and we're a couple.

We're a couple.

No big deal.
They can go home together.

What is that,
may I ask?

[Richard]
honestly, I wanna come out,

And I wanna make a statement.

I want some people
to be like,

"What the [bleep]
did that guy just do?"

[Valerie]
we have to cater
a cocktail party for 200 people

At the lincoln park zoo.

This is a black olive blini

With fennel mascarpone.

Sounds delicious.

"sounds."

This is a glacier.
You may have heard about it.

This is actually
a yuzu/mint gelee.

[padma]
who have you picked
as the winner?

It's gonna be andrew.

[Applause]

Valerie, please
pack your knives and go.

[Weakly]
okay.

At stake for the winner,

A feature
in food & wine magazine,

A showcase at the annual
food & wine classic in aspen,

A gourmet dream vacation
in the french alps,

Provided
by evian natural spring water,

$100,000 To help

Turn their culinary dreams
into reality,

Furnished by the makers
of the glad family of products,

And the title of top chef.

[Rock music]

♪ ♪

what have we here?

Never underestimate--
easy there.

[Indistinct]

[Indistinct chatter]

Waking up and dealing
with the reality of

Another person going home,

It is a challenge.

That's why I'm very serious
about the task at hand,

What needs to be done.

It's all about the food.

This morning, it's a little
weird not having valerie here.

It's definitely a little sad
to see, like,

Another woman leaving.

We all just want a woman

To make to the finals
and to represent.

[Zoi]
it's not common to have
one lesbian in the kitchen.

It's not common to have
one woman in the kitchen.

That, I think, is probably
the biggest struggle

As a female is just
to break people's image

Of what a chef is.

[Indistinct speech]

Physical, physical.
You watch it--no.

[Andrew]
it's an honor
to [bleep] be here.

And my attitude
in the kitchen is

Part of being a chef
is being an entertainer.

And you can do that in any way,
shape, or form you wish,

As long as you can apply
that creativity.

That's what we're here to do,
you know--have fun.

Hi, chefs.

[All]
hi.
hola!

I can see you all know
our guest judge for this round.

Chicago star chef

and winner of many

James beard awards.

Rick bayless.

rick here has done
more than any other chef

to introduce americans

To fine dining
mexican cuisine.

Rick bayless.

Of course I recognized him
immediately.

He has a couple restaurants
in chicago.

Frontera grill, which
is a little more casual,

Topoplobampo,
which is more fine dining.

My first thought is,
"oh, crap--mexican food."

Your quickfire today

is to take one of the most
well-known staples

of mexican cuisine
and reinvent it

As a fine dining dish.

we want you

To take on the taco.

so, rick,
do you serve tacos

In your fine dining
restaurant?

We do serve tacos,
but with a twist,

That's for sure.

Mexican food
is about the people

And it's about the streets,

And it's a soulful
kind of a thing.

And to put fine dining in it,
it just kind of bugs me.

Everybody ready?

'cause your 30 minutes

Starts now.

Good luck.

Catch!

Can I use a little
of that oil you got there?

Thanks.

A lot at stake for me here.

I'm mexican, and, you know,
I cook in mexican restaurants.

And to make a high-end taco,

I was thinking more
of ingredients.

I find nopales,
which are cactus petals.

You know, not too many people
know how to use these things.

So that's immediately
what I decided to do.

Anybody got a piece
of avocado they can spare?

I won't go to a fine dining
restaurant and order a taco.

It's just not my style.

I'm keeping it street food,
you know what I mean?

Because that's what a taco's
all about.

What I have at the taco truck
is ground pork.

So I figured, "why not?"
I know, not too upscale.

But, like,
I don't wanna fake it.

You know, I don't wanna be
somebody I'm not.

Immediately
pops into my mind,

"All right, let's
go with plantains."

I just it'd probably be best
to go with duck,

Since I know how
to cook duck really well.

I think I will win top chef

Because of the complete random
and crazy ideas

That pop in my head.

I'm always trying
new techniques.

I'm gonna put out the best food
that I can possibly put out.

The buzzword to me
is "reinvent,"

Which is kind of
what I do anyway.

Fine dining is my game.

So I'm gonna do something
that probably most people

Would look at and say,
"that's not even a taco."

I'm gonna use jicama
as the taco shell.

Six minutes, guys!
Push!

[Whirring]

The first thing I think of
is the taquerias

That I eat at
in san francisco.

So I wanna take those flavors,

Try to step it up a little bit
with clean, fresh ingredients.

Pomegranate and jicama salad.

And I made squash tacos.

Stunned to see a little
street food going on.

I don't get it,
'cause I'm pretty sure

The challenge said
fine dining.

But I don't know where
the street food came into it,

You know?

Time's up!

Utensils down,
hands up.

Hi, manuel.

I wanted to stay a little
more traditional with my taco.

I sauteed chorizo with a little
quick picante verde,

With tomatillos, pepitas,

[Speaking spanish]

Some cilantro,
mixed that in with the chorizo.

and then I finished it
with a little bit

of fresh goat cheese.

I'm guessing this isn't
the first taco you've made.

Never.

[Laughter]

So I have corn tortillas,

A little bit of grilled
skirt steak,

Caramelized onions,

Grilled pineapple to get
that little bit of bitterness

And sweetness kind of combined,
and then the slaw.

[Mouth full]
I'm not sure what I'm doing.

[Laughs]

I'm freaking out
at this point.

Rick takes a bite of my taco

And physically can't break
the steak off with his teeth.

This point, there's
absolutely nothing I can do.

chef, honor.

basically, I just
dusted up breasts

With a little bit
of chili powder.

Then there's a plantain jam
on the bottom.

And then this is a--
like just mexican cream,

A little bit
of cotija cheese.

Actually, it's one of my
favorite tacos in the world

Is duck taco.

That's what
I'm talking about.

Talk to us.
All right.

So I did a chipotle-braised
chicken taco.

Avocado, pomegranate salsa.

as well as a little bit
of guacamole.

it's very traditional
flavors.

Yeah.

what did you do
for us?

Well, I marinated ground pork
in a little bit of sweet soy,

Chili powder, and I served it
with an acidic tomatillo sauce.

You like it?

If you're going
for street style.

Success.

Hi, ryan.

what did you make?

I actually took the squash
and grilled it.

Put that inside.

On the bottom,
instead of refried beans.

I took chickpeas and actually
stewed those in some chilis.

no--

Thank you.

And last but not least,
we have richard.

Explain to us what's here.

Instead of using tortillas,
I shaved some jicama

And kind of used the jicama
as the tortilla.

Um, so it's jicama
with avocado,

Some papaya, and a little
bit of cilantro stem.

Can I eat one with you?

Yeah, you had
the good sense

To make yourself
an extra taco.

I really was just going
for bright and fresh

To start a meal.
right.

I like being unique.
I like being different.

When you are unique
and different

And there's 14 people
doing something else,

It seems like
you're taking a big risk.

[padma]
what do you think?

Well, I think there were
some good flavors going on.

but the challenge was

to translate
the humble taco

into something that could

Be served in fine dining.

And I got a lot of sort of
street tacos.

All right, so let's get rid
of the bad news first.

One of my least favorite
was erik's.

Because I thought the plate

Looked sort of like
a train wreck.

Nothing like I would ever
want to serve in fine dining.

I don't think fine dining
and mexican go together.

So he can go screw himself.

another one

That I had a lot of struggle
with was lisa's.

the one thing about, if you're
gonna work with skirt steak,

You know that you never
serve it rare.

'Cause no one
can bite through it.

And the other one
that I put in the bottom three

was ryan.

I felt like that piece of paper

Really bugged me
for fine dining.

I would never put that piece
of paper like that.

Who were your top tacos?

Top taco!

um, I'm gonna start
with andrew.

the flavors
were really good,

And they were quite refined.

I thought the presentation
was beautiful

And said fine dining
all the way.

Thank you, chef.
Honor.

Another one
of my favorites

Was richard's.

It was very simple,
but I have to say

that it tasted
like mexican street food.

But the package
was pure fine dining.

And your last top taco.

Well, I would choose...

Spike.

I felt like the flavor

Was super soul-satisfying.

It just made you
sort of swoon and wanna

Come back for another bite
and another bite.

[padma]
rick...

Who is the winner
of this quickfire?

It would have to be richard.

[Applause]

It was a beautiful dish.

[Spike]
rich ends up winning immunity.

And I'm like,
"are you serious?"

I was like, "rick,
did you not just listen

"To how you
described my taco

Compared to the other
two people's taco?"

And you have a special
surprise for richard,

don't you?

Yes, we're gonna
steal that dish

And we're gonna put it
on the menu in topoplobampo.

Who would have known,
you know,

That a jicama taco
with no taco shell

Ends up being the winner
in a taco challenge.

That was a very pleasant,
you know, surprise.

So, congratulations,
richard.

You have won yourself
immunity

in the elimination
challenge.

You'll find out
what that next challenge is

later.

so please,
divide yourselves

into two teams.

Blue and red.

and then jump
in your highlanders,

Because it's time
for a field trip.

Just because we have
a blue apron,

We'll just start blue
over there, I guess.

I'm blue.

I see all these people
go toward richard.

Like, dude,
are you guys insane?

This guy has immunity.

That's the last team
I wanna be on.

I mean, that's just
the law of averages.

All right, so that's it.
We got our teams, yay.

The red team consists
of zoi, dale, andrew,

Spike, ryan, and myself.

We're feeling good.
I mean, I'm definitely amped.

Having zoi on the team
is great.

I respect her.

She's, like,
one of the best cooks

I've ever worked with.

Jen and I know
each other's palates

Better than, obviously,
anyone else.

But we're two of seven.

So, I mean, there are still
five other people

That have minds of their own
to bounce off of.

Let's go.
Let's go do it, okay?

Everyone pushes
real hard.

You know, the blue team
is stephanie,

Nikki, antonia, mark,
mano, lisa, and myself.

There's a lot of similar
personalities on our team,

Which I like.

You got dale in your car, right?
From chicago, right?

Yeah, we got dale.

there's gonna be a lot

Of korean places
rolling up soon.

I'm thinking about--

Egg dishes?

yeah, braised.

Sitting there brainstorming,
we were like,

Vietnamese district,
polish district,

Uh, chinese district.

What kind of dishes
can we come up?

I mean, we are sh**ting things
left and right.

You don't think we're gonna go
to a sports bar for some drinks?

[Antonia]
like, we have no idea
what we're doing.

And we just kind of laughed,
and we're like,

"Okay, we can't do anything
until we get there."

I just texted them.
We're going north.

uh-oh.
uh-oh, turning left.

Turning left.
What does that mean, dale?

I have no idea, and I don't
know what is up here.

Padma throws one hell
of a curve ball.

We're basically running around
like new york city rats.

Let's go!

This is gonna be a nightmare.

[Dale]
we arrive at just a neighborhood
in the middle of chicago.

And...i have no idea
what's going on.

Hey, guys.

[All]
hi, padma.

As you know, chicago

Is a city made up of
neighborhoods.

the reason you're
in this one is because

They're having their annual
block party tomorrow.

and we want you
to help make it

their most memorable yet

In your mealstogether.com
elimination challenge.

Yeah!
Yes!

[Applause]

weather depending,

They're expecting about
40 adults and 70 kids.

You won't be shopping
for this challenge, though.

at least not in

The traditional sense.

A lot of families
will have supplies

That they bought
especially for tomorrow.

So you'll have
to go door to door...

And collect
all the groceries you can

From the people
living here.

Padma throws
one hell of a curveball.

I'm like, "wow, I'm really glad
I have immunity."

'Cause I'm not super social.

This is gonna be
a nightmare.

You know, I'm not sure
how I would react

To some white coat strangers
knocking on my door

Asking me if they could
look in my fridge, you know.

Tomorrow,

You'll have three hours
to prep and cook

before heading back here

to the block party.

It's time to meet
the neighbors.

[Chattering]

Sexy. One, two, sexy!

I'll take team sexy.
I like that.

Nice.

Smile!

It's up to us.
Let's do this.

Pressure's on us.

We immediately send ryan in,

You know,
'cause ryan's a pretty boy,

And he speaks very well.

So it just makes sense
for him to go in first.

He'll be like, "hey,
I'm tall, dark, and handsome.

I need some grapes."

My name's ryan.

How are you?
Hi, I'm jennifer.

You have to make people
feel comfortable.

You're walking into a house

And they're not
familiar with you.

Can you imagine if we sent
erik to the front door?

And he says, [deep voice]
"can I have some food?"

Is there any way you think
you might be able

To donate some ingredients
for us to cook tomorrow?

What do you need?

Hello.
How's it going?

Good, great.

My name's mark,
and I'm from top chef.

[All]
hi.
How are you?

Good.

Whatever you would like
to go ahead and give to us

That we can work with,

We would absolutely
love to have it.

so we can cook
for you guys.

You're lucky, 'cause there was
a farmer's market this morning.

Can we have these marshmallows
for the kids?

sure.
oh, score.

And the pork one?
yeah.

Oh, that'd be great.
Thank you.

And you guys said it was okay
if we take this ranch, right?

spicy ranch?

may I go with oranges
or a mango?

many as you wanna put in there.
I'm gonna leave it up to you.

Oh, and can hardly wait

To see what you guys
cook up.

Or we can do
a little high-five.

Or I'm kind of a huggy
kind of guy.

Jen and i, by the time
we were done,

Walking out the front door,
we had at least seven bags.

Anything that they give us,
I ran with it.

goat cheese.

Goat cheese.

There's some sausage.

you know, that's not enough
for 50 people, though.

As we're going through
the first house,

We found a lot of pasta.

At home, I make a lot
of mac and cheese.

It's definitely one
of my signature dishes.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for having us
in your home.

We really appreciate it.

We're basically
running around

Like new york city rats.

Just trying to grab
as much [bleep] as possible.

Oh, my god,
look at your pantry.

That's what
I'm talkin' about.

[Spike]
this lady's pantry is--
is just huge.

I don't know, like,
she must be saving

For, like, a world w*r
or something like that.

Okay, do we get
to eat this tomorrow?

Oh, absolutely.

We will make you
the best pasta salads.

I'm talking about all sorts
of dried pastas.

Tomato sauces.

She has bottles of wine.

It's a gold mine.

I found barbecue sauce.

we're team red.

And you can tell, 'cause
we both have red beards.

Can you say,
"go, team red?"

Picking pantries
like it's nobody's business.
Erik, erik!

Oh, no, they're
cleaned out already.

Score! Score!

[Laughter]

I just told them

Not to go to the house,
and they're...

If they do--
there's so much
more food there.

That's really good.

I'm not sabotaging anybody.

I'm just like,
"no, you know, I was there.

"I was just at that house.

You know, I took
pretty much everything."

Which I did.

But there was--
there was a good, you know,

A good hunk of stuff
still to be had.

I'm here to win,
for god's sakes.

Right now,
we're confident we have

Some sort of paella,
jambalaya, whatever.

Some sort of meat,
seafood, rice dish.

But that's--
I think that's the idea

Is to take something
that people are familiar with

And then make it--
give it a little "wow."

That's cool.

As we're going through
the whole process of planning,

We decided to go with
upscale, you know.

It doesn't mean, you know,
it's not white tablecloth.

But upscale means not just
hamburgers and hot dogs to me.

This here is a lot
of hot dogs and buns.

that's what
they like here.

like, we should concentrate
on toppings for hot dogs

To make it different and
escalate it, know what I mean?

Yeah.

Knowing that there's
gonna be 70 kids,

We decided that we really wanna
stick with classic americana.

I think we're gonna do
little corn dogs.

We're gonna do little sliders.
Little, tiny hamburgers.

Have to remember the reason
why we're here

And what we're actually
cooking for.

And we're cooking
for the people tomorrow.

We're cooking
for that neighborhood.

And ultimately, is ted allen
and rick bayless

And padma and tom
are gonna be tasting this?

Yes, so, you know,
it has to be spot-on too.

All right, guys.

sweet.

Let's go, guys.

Shut the door
on the way out.

Today is the day
of our elimination challenge,

Where we're gonna be creating
delicious cuisine

For a block party

In a great neighborhood
in chicago.

Let's push, blue.

Let's go, blue.
Let's go, mark.

You got the onions
and the garlic, right?
Yeah.

We get into
the top chef kitchen,

And we have three hours
to get our menu done.

It will be a team effort,
but everybody really decided

To do an individual dish.

Rich is working
on a paella.

Lisa's making a slaw.

We're doing some barbecued
pulled pork.

Antonia's making
a bean salad.

Mark is actually doing
an inside-out cookie.

We have something called
our sexy drink.

And then dessert,
tentatively a cobbler.

And I have to start
on the mac and cheese

Right away.

I have velveeta as one
of my materials to use.

I have to figure out
if I can melt that into a sauce

That's gonna not coagulate
by the time we get there

And serve it.

So that's the challenge.

Bigger.
I need a bigger pot.

I'm producing a paella.

I hope it doesn't
come back to burn me.

It's a great paella,

But it's not typical
block party food.

But I just need to be myself.

Me, personally,
I'm thinking about padma

And tom and rick bayless
and ted allen.

If food is good enough
for those four,

Then 150 people
should enjoy it as well.

You know what we
can end up doing?

All right, what I think
we should do.

Serve it in a bowl,
put some of this,

Put the chip,
and top it with cool whip.

When I woke up this morning,
I decided to change

The base for the dessert.

Uh, we got these
gyoza wrappers.

So I decided to first
fry those with a little bit

Of mexican cinnamon
and sugar.

The other component
is going to be

A sort of
a streusel topping.

You guys smell that?

what?
success!

It's an elimination challenge.
Someone's gonna go home.

You better make sure
you're the top team

So no one on your team
goes home.

I don't wanna go home.

And I don't want
zoi to go home.

The team decided
on a menu together.

I'm doing the sliders.

Erik's doing the corn dogs.

Dale's working
on the pork skewers.

Andrew is just banging out
sangria.

Ryan's working on
the waldorf salad.

And zoi's working
on the pasta salad.

And spike is working
on the taco salad.

That's good.

Yeah?
yeah.

all right, guys,
thank you!

thank you!

[Erik]
as we go at this today,

We're all working together
as a team.

There's no team leader.

I'm in charge
of doing the corn dogs.

It's something that I work with
at my restaurant.

But I feel really bad.

Zoi's not that happy
about the pasta salad

That she's having
to work with.

That was, like, the only thing
that was left to be done.

So she just kind of got
the [bleep] end of the stick.

Yeah, baby.
how's
everybody feelin'?

Feelin' good!

I'm making pasta salad.

The pasta salad is not mine.

It wasn't my idea.

It's not like
a top chef winner, you know?

Like, I won top chef by making
[bleep] pasta salad?

I mean, it's
not gonna happen, so...

I'm feeling a little bit like
I should have said something.

One of my concerns
is that we're not being

As elegant
as we should be.

Some of us have more experience
in more fine dining.

I worked in asian restaurants
for ten years.

It's what I do.

I wanna push as opposed
to play it safe.

Hey, guys.

Richard,
how you doing?

You have immunity,
right?
I do have immunity.

How does that feel?

I'm not really
thinking about it too much now.

so what are you
responsible for?

I made some yummy
mac and cheese.

They are working
on our sexy drink.

[tom]
what exactly
is a sexy drink?

A simple syrup
with lavender,

And then we're squeezing
some fresh citrus.

And we're gonna
carbonate it on-site.

What makes that sexy?

The lavender.

The lavender.
Lavender's sexy now?

Okay, good.

[tom]
hey, erik, dale.
how you guys doing?

Yeah, I am doing, uh,
some mini corn dogs.

I do lobster corn dogs
on my menu.
oh, do you?

Okay, so the recipes
are right at hand for you?

Yeah, I'm pretty comfortable.

So why are these
the winning dishes?

We're just putting our heart
into everything.

and tasting everything.

And you know, nobody's
too proud to say,

"Hey, you know what, that needs
salt, that needs pepper."

Sounds great.
Thank you, chef.

I'll catch you
at the party.
All right.

Hi, chef.
How you doin'?

Ryan, how's it going?

So it's a real
team effort, I hear.

Yeah, totally--everyone's
tasting everyone's food

And making sure
it's right.

How did you come up
with your dish?

Since it's gonna be
scorching hot today,

We ended up going
with waldorf salad.

On the chicken,
instead of doing, like--

My grandmother went
with mayonnaise base.

We actually did a white
balsamic base.

You know,
the funny thing is,

The mayonnaise is what
keeps everything fresh.

yeah, well,
we roasted apples

And made that
be the creamy element.

Okay, chefs, listen up!

you got about
30 minutes left.

see you at the party.

ah, yeah.

Biscuits.

[Whirring]

Packing everything up.

Pulled sandwich.
I see the buns.

Make it hot.
That just stays warm.

The problem with
my mac and cheese at this point

Is it's gonna sit,

And then it's gonna
sit again

When we get
to the block party,

And that could
dry up my sauce.

Is the cheese sauce
packed?

Yes, it is.
Thank you.

One of my main concerns
in transit

Is definitely the corn dogs
getting soggy

In the hot box.

It's not the ideal way
to move crispy products.

Huh?
throw me a bag.

Right there.
Here, spike.

[woman]
time's up.

High fives, you guys.
Sweet.

High fives,
high fives.

Go, bundy.

Cambro, guys.
Cambro.

Somebody's gotta go home.

We've done all this work
and put everything together.

And somebody has
gotta go home.

[Indistinct]

You get in here.

You get--
you get in on here.

[Muttering]

You know,
we were kind of like,

"Wow, they must have really
just demolished us."

[Harmonica blues rock]

[All groan]

[Spike]
we were at the block party,

So the minute
I stepped onto that block,

It was just like, "let's make
this annual block party

The best one
they've ever had."

[Cheering]

gonna do s'mores, sangria,

Pasta salad,
dip bar.

[Andrew]
20 minutes is not a lot
of time to do anything.

It was a mad rush
to get the food out,

Try to get the taco salads
on plates.

We're rushing
as fast as possible.

[boy]
yeah!

People are hyping us up:

"Go, red team!
Go, red team!"

Damn straight.

I'm stoked to see the reaction
on these people's faces

Knowing that when we came
to their house

And they gave us
these products,

We can say, "okay,
this is what you gave us.

"Now you taste this.

"Like, this is what
we made from that.

Do you like it?"

[Kids]
go, red, go!

[Erik]
we pull all our food out.

My corn dogs
were definitely soggy,

'Cause we had a little bit
of a holding time.

But I didn't find them
so soggy

That we were gonna throw 'em out
and not serve 'em.

'Cause the people
in the neighborhood

Gave us 12 packs
of hot dogs.

[crowd]
go, blue! Go blue!
go, blue! Go, blue!

It's inspiring.
Keep it up, please.

Let's go.

I'm feeling pretty confident.

I think our food's fresh.
I think it's tasty.

I think it's a step above
what probably would have been

At the block party
if we didn't show up.

[Cheers and applause]

Damn, this mac and cheese
just totally dried out.

The mac and cheese
just completely dried up.

I'm just trying to put as much
cream and butter and salt--

And, you know, not overdo it,

But moisten it
as much as I can.

Seriously,
the mac and cheese

Needs, like, heat.

It needs to loosen up.

The mac and cheese,

I mean, nikki was really
trying her hardest.

At this point,
our food's there.

We don't have anything else
to fix it.

We don't have any
cooking utensils.

There's nothing we can do.

It's already there.

So we're just
rolling with it.

[All groan]

[Screaming and laughing]

[Chattering]

Hey!

You guys,
everything looks great.

Hello, chefs, and welcome.

I wanna introduce the judges
for this challenge.

You remember rick bayless
from the quickfire.

[rick]
I don't think
they expected that.

Thank you all.

head judge,
chef tom coliccio.

[Applause]

and ted allen.

please start plating,
start enjoying.

We'll be by
to taste all your food.

paella?
I'll plate it for you.

would you like
some barbecue?

All right,
what would you like?

The works?

Right when we're
ready to go,

People are ready to go.

One of our strategies
was to make it

A little bit more upscale
and plate for them.

We just really don't want
that buffet kind of mentality

Where people just, like, come in
and take what they'd like.

You know, that's not
what we're here for.

We really like them to get
the best service that they can.

And we're really gonna
take care of them today.

little, um,
s'more bites.

it's graham crackers
and chocolate, so...

We had those things
on our camping trip.

Hey!

are those my peaches?

Those are your peaches.

So happy that the peaches
made this drink.

Those are sliders.

They're little burgers.

That are full
of awesomeness.

[Andrew]
we are feeling that our food

Is a little closer to home
with these people

Than the others team, as far
as a block party's concerned.

I think that we got the concept
of the block party in our minds,

And I think we knocked it out
to their best expectations.

[Ted]
this must be--
let me guess: the paella.

This is the richmond avenue
paella.

We kind of had a few bags

Of some really
interesting ingredients.

Bit of clams
and some oysters

And some sausages
and some shrimp.

Well, thank god we got some
sausage in here somewhere.

You have to have it, yes.

So we have a little
barbecue sandwich.

Pulled pork and chicken.

Had enough ribs
to give everybody one.

So there's two different kinds
of barbecue sauce.

This is a little bit
of a chipotle sauce.

It's a little bit more tangy.

And then for the rib,

We did one that was
a little bit more chocolaty.

We used a little
mexican chocolate.

oh, nice.
time for dessert.

Time for something sweet.

[Stephanie]
we have nice, fresh fruit

That we cooked
with some basil and lime.

So we mixed that with
a little bit of whipped cream

And some mexican cinnamon.

And then we have
cinnamon-sugar wontons.

I like that.

Thank you.

Absolutely.
Thanks a lot.

[Chattering]

Hello.
How are you doing?

[Nikki]
this is macaroni and cheese.

It has bacon
and breadcrumbs.

[Rick]
what kind of pasta did you find?

I have elbows,
and I have farfalle.

[rick]
what's dessert?

cookie in a cookie.

A cookie in a cookie?

We have some
chocolate chip cookies

Rolled in the outside
of the oreos,

And then took the inside
of the oreos

And made a little bit
of a cream.

I love that!

It is a citrus-
pineapple-mint,

A little bit
of lavender syrup,

And then we brought
our own soda water.

Thank you.

[Chuckles]

[Stephanie]
the judges,
they pretty much take the food

And walk away and eat it.

So we don't really get
that much of a sense

Of what they're thinking.

And we're just hoping
that the judges

Are as happy with it
as the guests are.

Padma, did you
save any room?

I did try and...

This is our cold taco salad.

It's a chorizo.

It's got a little bit
of avocado, shrimp,

A little jalapeno,
and, uh, cabbage,

With a little bit
of lime dressing.

can you tell us
about the burger?

Yeah, mini sliders.

Beef with a little ground turkey
and some bacon.

And then we made
a provolone cheese sauce.

Now, you didn't steam
your sliders, did you?

No, we grilled 'em.

There's grill marks
on there for sure.

[Dale]
um, right here I have

A little bit
of grilled pork tenderloin.

They're kebabs.

[Padma]
and pineapple.

[Dale]
pork, charred pineapple,
and a little red onion.

Toasted up some curry

And made my own little smoked
red curry barbecue sauce.

Oh, nice.
Really?

Yes, ma'am.

Padma and ted
are very tough to read.

They're at the line, and they're
just looking at things.

"Ooh, this looks good.
That looks good."

It's frustrating,
but I'm thinking that we won.

Can you guys tell us
about your s'mores on a stick?

[French accent]
we brulee the marshmallow.

He's talkin' s'mores
with a french accent.

[Andrew]
s'mores is french.

[Spike]
graham cr*cker and chocolat.

[Padma]
that's the classic s'mores,
it's just...

you can't mess with it.

[ted]
could I have
one more of those?

[All groan]
oh, no!

Oh, little girl
dropped her s'more!

[padma]
I dropped it on your shoe.

You dropped it
on my shoe.

You're gonna get
the bill for that.

[Spike]
our team is feeling amazing.

Our group is a lot
more charismatic

Than the other team.

It's got, like,
the schmooze factor.

Hey, guys.

Nice to have you
on the block.

[tom]
so I guess we should
just start over here?

Absolutely.
Chicken waldorf salad.

Classic, classic dish.

This is our famous papa
souffle's corn dogs right here.

[Tom]
I'm assuming you want
a corn dog.

Everybody wants a corn dog.

For the adults, we got a nice,
spicy mustard mix.

The dipping bar.
This is our dipping bar.

So where do we start?

This is a little bit
of edamame

Marinated in some yuzu soy
and some chili oil.

[Tom]
that's a lot of food.

[Zoi]
we had the whole dip bar

With several different types
of dip,

Chips, pickled vegetables.

Pasta salad.

All in all,
a pretty good selection.

Let's see if we can catch up
with ted and padma

And compare notes.
Let's do it.

[Indistinct]

So far, my favorite dish
is the shish kebob

from the red team.

The one thing that I am
disappointed in

Is the blue team's paella.

My favorite dish
were the, uh,

The red team's
mini sliders.

The red team,

Maybe it was just by the time
I got the corn dogs,

The crust around the corn dog
was a little bit soft.

And the blue team

Has a fresh fruit dessert.

It was to die for.

Really refreshing
and delicate and elegant.

alley-oop.

Spikey, alley-oop.

You get in here.

You get in on here.

May the best food win.

Hands down,
we all worked hard.

Like, let's see
what happens.

The red team is dunking
basketballs and drinking beer.

And they're running around
having a good time.

So we're kind of like,

"Wow, they must really have just
demolished us."

I need a hug.
Come here, it's all right.

We worked our asses off.
It's over.

There's always that moment
in every challenge

Where you look across
at your competitor.

You just start second-guessing
a lot of things.

Of course we're all worried
about someone going home.

[Indistinct exclamation]

It doesn't matter.
I did it with my mind.

[Spike]
we were the life of the party.

We nailed that one
in every sense of the way,

As far as entertainment,
food, drinks.

Keeping it simple
for the locals on this block.

[All]
bye!

You know, it's unfortunate
somebody has to go home today.

But, you know, that's
the nature of the game,

And you never know
who it's gonna be.

I just wanna tell you
this wasn't that good.

We had major problems
with a lot of the stuff.

I was pretty amazed
with what we came up with

With the food that we got.

gangbusters, man.

They loved it.

We'd like to see
the blue team, please.

thank you.

Yeah, that was not
a [bleep] loss

In any way,
shape, or form.

Period. To us.
That's the way I felt.

we really don't have anything
to worry about, man.

Honestly.

It was fairly close between
the blue team and the red team.

and there were some things
we really didn't care for.

you know, considering
the first two challenges,

I was expecting a lot more
from this team.

and this just kind of left me
asking myself,

"Is this the same
group of people?"

Did anyone play
a leadership role?

no.

We worked, really,
as a team.

What were you
responsible for?

Um, I did the lovely
mac and cheese.

I felt like you didn't

Know how to use
that velveeta.

The cheese sauce
came out really well.

it just dried up.

It certainly did.
It formed a brick.

Richard, the paella.

Yes.

It wasn't a paella.

Okay.

we were expecting
a paella,

Where you get that crusty top
and crusty bottom.

And we were--
we got a rice pilaf.

Was the dish tasty or...

The flavor was fine,
but I just, you know,

I wanna know if you know
the difference

Between what a real paella is
and something else.

Yeah, I mean, the best part
is the crunchy part

On the bottom of the pan.

[padma]
stephanie, what were you
responsible for?

I sort of
conceptualized the dessert.

I also helped with the...
The drink.

[padma]
we loved the drink.

And the judges decided that you
were the winning team.

Come on.

By a small margin.

[Laughter]

antonia, overall,

We enjoyed the bean dish.

it had nice flavor.

um, stephanie,
we loved the drink,

that whole dessert was really
successful, I thought.

[padma]
oh, I loved the wonton.

the wonton is genius.

I mean, that's probably
why you guys won.

So, congratulations,
stephanie.

you are the winner
of the challenge.

Thanks.

[Applause]

Yippee.

Win number two.

I think the competition's
gonna get harder and harder.

So I just really have
to keep on my game.

before you guys start

To congratulate yourself,

I just wanna tell you
this wasn't that good.

I expected a lot more
from this team.

Please send back
the red team.

thank you.
thanks.

Well, I was the winner.

And, uh, padma wants
to see you guys.

Congratulations.

[stephanie]
thanks.

[Playing like
a didgeridoo]

♪ ♪

We won, congratulations.
Congratulations, blue team.

[All talking at once]

Red team, you were

the weaker team
in this challenge.

What do you think
got you here?

ryan?

I honestly can't tell you.

I thought we kicked
their ass, to be honest.

You didn't.

Did you guys think that
was a successful corn dog?

It was as good as I could do
with hot dogs.

We all tasted it,

and thought it was

A universal
disappointment here.

Your corn dog
was just really soggy.

Transport definitely
had a lot to do with it.

it's something that I work
with, you know,

Doing corn dogs
at my restaurant.

And I never have a problem when
they're out of the fryer

In three minutes
and they go on a plate.

you had to fry
that corn dog off-site

And bring it
to where we were,

And it steamed in transit,

And that's why
it wasn't crispy.

but you guys knew that.

we just decided
that it was,

You know, middle america,
block party, kids.

That's fine.

But does that mean you should
dumb down what you're doing?

no.

That's not
what we were doing at all.

speaking
of middle america,

Which I think is where
waldorf salad comes from,

Do you feel
that the waldorf salad

was able to hold up the hours
that it needed to?

Yeah, it did.
I put it out in spurts.

I kept the blue cheese
on ice.

I kept the walnuts separate.
apples were crisp.

The chicken, I thought,
was good.

I think of a waldorf salad
as all crunch and crisp.

and there was so much
chicken in it,

It sort of went soggy.

[spike]
you have to take
into consideration, though,

you guys are four people
on the panel

That have very good palates,
intense palates,

And you can taste food
better than others.

But we were cooking
for the neighborhood.

We were cooking
for the neighborhood.

[ted]
regardless of whether
you guys are making

a jelly donut

Or sous-vide duck breast,

I think we can still tell
whether it was done

As well as it could be
or not.

I think
I speak for everybody

When we say
we're pretty surprised

That we're here.

because we tasted
everybody's food,

and I think

We kind of made
the block party.

All right, everybody tasted
zoi's pasta?

and everybody
thought it was good?

Then you guys collectively have
really poor palates.

'Cause it was bland,
it was oily.

It had no flavor at all.

I just wanna talk about
zoi's pasta salad.

And her not really wanting
to be stuck with that thing.

It wasn't my...inspiration.

I hear a lot of camaraderie.

but, oftentimes,

when people season things
by committee,

Everything goes down
in flavor,

because nobody wants
to offend anybody else.

Honestly, I can't--
I can't believe that that team

Served the hack that they did
versus what we put out there.

With the effort and the teamwork
that we showed today.

Done!

Someone on this team's
going home tonight.

As far as, uh,
me going home right now,

You'd have to drag me out
with security guards

More or less.

'Cause I ain't
goin' nowhere.

This is my house, so...

Thank you.
We'll see you in a bit.

Thank you.

[Whispering]
that was awesome.

They [bleep] sat there
and just crushed us.

They were certainly
surprised to lose.

I thought it was pretty clear
that they were the losing team.

If you think that
you're playing to the crowd

and not the judges,

You're condescending
to that crowd.

And, to tell you the truth,
good food sells to everybody.

That's right.

Okay, so let's take
the weakest dishes.

we had ryan's
waldorf salad.

[Rick]
the poaching of his chicken,

Which was so moist that it
watered out that dressing,

And the whole thing
was a soggy mess.

The other really big clunker
on that table

was the corn dog.

[Ted]
it looked absolutely amazing,

And I bet when he cooked it,
it was great.

We ate it, and that's when
it was not great.
Yes.

someone should have said,

"it's gonna be sitting out
for two hours.

It's gonna steam.
It's gonna be terrible."

He should have said that.

I also thought the pasta dish
was just terrible.

[Rick]
if you can go to any grocery
store and buy a pasta salad

That's gonna be
more satisfying,

That says a lot right there.

I appreciate that it
was not the dish

That zoi wanted to do,
but you know what?

It's the dish zoi did.

it was [bleep] weak.

It was an afterthought
that should have been omitted.

I almost said to you guys,

"[Bleep] it.
Let's just can it."

Zoi, you're not
going home.

Dude, you don't
[bleep] know that.

that's the thing,
is I [bleep] knew,

And I didn't say anything.

That's why I'm pissed.
okay.

I know zoi's talent
and skill.

To see her called out,
it was a reality check.

It was like,
"whew, [bleep]."

I think we have
our decision.

I think so.

Okay, let's
get them out here.

[Ominous music]

♪ ♪

You know, this challenge
was fairly simple.

you had to raid
the refrigerator and pantries

Of some homes
in the neighborhood

And create a great meal
for their block party.

Ryan, your waldorf salad

just became a watery,

Sort of unseasoned,
unfocused dish.

Zoi, whether or not you agreed
to make a pasta salad,

someone with your experience
should be able to handle that

Pretty easily,
and you didn't.

erik, the corn dog.

this is something you do

Day in and day out,
and I think you know

it's not something that can
hold for two hours.

it shouldn't have been done.

Erik, please
pack your knives and go.

[Erik]
I gave it a great sh*t,
and I did what I can.

You take the good
with the bad

From everything
that you go through in life.

Oww! I'm out.

Papa souffle.

[Erik]
the thing I'll miss the most

Is just the camaraderie
that I made

With 16 phenomenal chefs here.

I wish the best
for everyone.

ah, no worries.

We know that.

Chef.

oui, chef.

[woman]
erik, you're the best.

[erik]
zoi.

[Kiss]

Take care, sweetie.

[Zoi]
it [bleep] sucks.

I feel terrible that
he had to go.

I'm glad that it wasn't me
that had to go home

For pasta salad.

That would have been
super embarrassing.

But, on a personal level,

I wanted to see him
stick around.

I'm out.

[Applause]

[Erik]
you know, this is not
the end of my career

In any way, shape, or form.

I'm still an executive chef
in san francisco.

I still have a huge, long,
fruitful career ahead of me.

It is what it is.

I'm not, you know,
I'm not bitter.

And I had a great time
while I was here.

[Padma]
next on top chef...

Our guest judge
for this round...

Hello.

And if you guys
don't know who he is,

you should just
leave the kitchen now.


Ladies and gentlemen.

Is it working?

No, it b*rned
the plastic wrap.

Plastic off,
plastic off, plastic off.

[ted]
it just didn't have
a lot of flavor.

It's just too thin.
The dish is kind of one-note.

It's a little soggy.

I think it's better

Than all the experts
have been saying so far.

Yeah, we're
picking it apart.

We gotta go.

I didn't feel anything
transcendent about it.

If they win,
and if this is what they want,

Then see ya later.

what, are you serious?

Today, I'm gonna assemble you
a magical concoction.

doo doo doo doo!

I mean, what the hell
do you say to that?

[Irish accent]
I'm a little chef.
Look at me!

[Padma]
for more about the recipes
seen tonight, go to: